Key Points
Stoke were awarded a free kick just centimeters from the goal-line, and the goalkeeper, as was perfectly legal at the time, stood right in front of the ball..
As John Wesson points out in The Science of Soccer, taking into account air drag, a perfectly directed penalty hit at 80 mph into the top corner of the goal could, in theory, defeat a goalkeeper from 35 yards..
Seemingly by fluke, 12 yards is pretty much the sweet spot: Enough penalties go in to reward skill and good placement, and enough penalties are saved to reward good guesswork, research, and agility by goalkeepers..
The diving envelope covers 70 percent of the goal area, meaning a penalty taker has 30 percent of the goal to aim at to dramatically improve their odds of scoring..
Penalty takers who focused too much on the goalkeeper saw their attempts saved 40 percent of time, compared to less anxious players who were able to ignore the goalkeeper, resulting in a lower save rate of 20 percent...
